Great Photography

Oh, and. . .

Thanks for stopping by the Gypsy Wagon! Leave me a note to let me know you were here, and to pass along any other creative folks you think I ought to visit. Please don't borrow my photographs or work without permission. All rights are reserved, and when they're violated, it makes me crabby and irritable. No one wants that.

April 07, 2007

We set off through the farmer's market next to the hotel on a very cold Saturday morning. The produce vendors competed with artists and crafters for customers, but the most successful vendors were those selling hot coffee!

We had a wonderful park ranger who told the stories of Ft. Sumter better than I've ever heard before. She had the ability to make history accessible to kids and interesting to adults.

April 06, 2007

Here's a view of Ft. Moultrie on Sullivan's Island. It's a little colder than we'd like, but when the sun came out it was breezy but tolerable. We toured the fort, then walked on the beach for a while. We saw pelicans dive-bombing for breakfast, then slugging down the fish that they caught. We saw piping plovers scurrying at the waters edge, their legs moving as fast as pistons, and we saw dolphins making lazy circles as they dove and surfaced just past the waves. Behind them we could see the skyline of Charleston with all of the church steeples piercing the sky and between them and downtown Charleston sat Ft. Sumter. We'll go visit that tomorrow.

Here's the new bridge connecting Charleston and Mt. Pleasant. When we lived here, there were two bridges over the Cooper River. One was ancient, wooden and rickety. The second wasn't as ancient, but didn't inspire much confidence either. The new one is beautiful - it's solid, wide, and breathtaking in its simple design. It's a good thing I wasn't driving because I wanted to get a shot from the middle of the bridge!

While driving around Isle of Palms, SC today we came upon this truck. You should have heard my shriek as I realized what I was seeing - a BLUE BELL TRUCK - in SOUTH CAROLINA! That's huge to me, because, since I left Texas in 1989 Blue Bell has been expanding throughout the Southeast, and to a lesser extent, throughout the Southwest. However, it's NEVER available where we are. When we lived in Kings Bay, it wasn't available. Now it is. When we lived in Charleston (twice), it wasn't available. Now it is. Forget about Virginia, Washington State, Connecticut, New Hampshire or Maine. It's definitely NOT available in any of those places. So - to come back to a place that we'd lived before and to find a BlueBell truck delivering the goods is about as incongruous as a submarine in Lake Somerville. In any case, I waited around til the BlueBell man came back and visited with him for awhile. It was fun to be able to tell him that I was in Brenham last Friday - in fact at the creamery! He sent me off with an armload of ice cream sandwiches. I kept enough for the five of us, and passed the rest out to surfers and tourists that I passed on the way. I took note of the place where he was delivering the ice cream, and got some insight on where else it's sold in the Charleston area. And I took a pic of the beachside ice cream shop where BlueBell reigns in South Carolina - as a reminder that it is creeping northward - albeit ever so slowly!

April 05, 2007

Here's a view of our hotel from the pool area. This was built as a fort in the mid 1700's, and then served as The Citadel military academy for many years.

When we went to the Naval Station to buy tickets for some of theoutings that we wanted to take, we found two gatorssunning themselves onthe banks of apond. The kidsweredying to get out to take closer pictures, but we decided that the telephoto lens was the way to go.

It was a beautiful day in downtown Charleston!

Gardenias and roses are in full bloom, and between thewhiffs of fried shrimp, carriage-tour horses, andthe occasional over-smell.

John took this one aswe set out foran perfumed tourist, you could smell the blooms. Such a sweetevening stroll before the weatherchanges.We are expectinghighs only in the60's tomorrow.

John took these too, aswe wandered, window shopped,dinner!

and ate ice cream for I don't know what this used to be, but now it'san Urban Outfitters store.

April 03, 2007

More fun than a barrel of monkeys - particularly if you're wearing the appropriate footwear for muddy conditions. We had a great time in Warrenton - in fact, it was so fun that we hit it twice. Friday afternoon was cloudy and gray, and there were hints of rain blown about by the wind. The people watching was terrific, and the variety of stuff was pretty amazing. We shopped and poked and browsed and picked until about 6 when we packed it in for the day.

Day two didn't disappoint. After a gully-washer of a storm during the early morning hours, Saturday dawned bright and sunny and warmed up enough during the day that we were all a little sunburned.

Royer's Round Top Cafe opened a satellite location at Warrenton inside Zapp Hall for the antiques show and the food was pretty darn good. I love the sign that they had up - simple painted circle with the name inside, surrounded by bottle caps.

We spent most of our time wandering the booths, chatting with the vendors, drinking very cold beer,and stopping for snacks.

I loved the name of this booth -

And I loved the way these bakelite bracelets looked displayed together.

I managed to resist the siren song of the vintage Christmas ornies.

Loved this display from the Gypsy Junk girls - Lara said this is how they set the table at her house.

I think this should be an annual event - we only scratched the surface. Until next year . . .

April 02, 2007

When I said it was a whirlwind weekend in Texas, I wasn't kidding! As soon as I hit the airport in Austin, I found a SuperShuttle that could deliver me downtown in the amount of time it would take Karen to finish her morning's work. When she picked me up, our jaws started flapping, and didn't stop until she left Mom and Dad's house in Brenham 9 hours later.Our first stop was Chuy's - home of the best-ever chili rellenos and frozen margaritas. Sometimes when I need a "fix", I go here just to read the menus. It's a little self-torture, but sometimes I just see that real Tex-Mex still exists - even if I can't have it!

Next we headed to South Congress to visit some of the funky shops and restaurants that have replaced the tatoo shops and boarded up buildings that littered the street during the late 80's. Tops on my list was Uncommon Objects - I'd read about it several times recently in magazine articles spotlighting Austin. It was not a disappointment! First of all, it was chock-full from floor to ceiling with interesting stuff. Vintage clothing and cowboy boots shared space with old flashcards, store signs and lots of fezzes. We must be losing a lot of Shriners these days, because there were quite a few to choose from. I should have bought one, but instead bought the hat you see here:

It is so cool (depending on your viewpoint - I had conflicting opinions from a few people), and is covered with little white flowers. I wore it all the way to Brenham, and had a few raised eyebrows along the way. I also found a great little whisk broom (no I don't know what I am going to do with it), a great greeting card and a metal red S. After our Uncommon Goods outing, we strolled back up Congress to Guero's where we sat under the front canopy, drank tea and had chips and salsa and watched the rain fall. And on Austin streets where you can see just about anything, I snapped a picture of this:

Now - it's a bit grainy, because I was shooting from a distance, but yes those are chaps on that cowboy, and when he got closer I could see that he was wearing spurs. This wasn't out on a ranch in the country, this was on a major artery in downtown Austin. Never ever a dull moment in Austin which is one of the things that makes it such a great city!

We finished up downtown, picked up Karen's friend and then shared some stories over one more margarita before heading for Brenham. We stopped for pictures in the bluebonnets along the way, and finished up day 1 with tired jaws and grateful hearts for the time we were able to spend together!

Lara arrived Friday morning and our first order of business was the BlueBell tour. If you love ice cream (and if you don't, I don't want to know about it), you have to know that this is the best ice cream - ever - worldwide. 2007 is the 100th anniversary of the "little creamery", and if you're in south central Texas, make a point of stopping in for a tour. It's $3 a person, and you get ice cream at the end! Go here for more information or to order your own ice cream, if like me you live where BlueBell isn't available - yet. BlueBell also has a great country store full of great gifts - for you or for someone else. And no, I wasn't paid to say that!

Although there's nothing wrong with ice cream for breakfast, we were so hungry after our tour. Lara saved the day with a trip to her cousin Nathan's convenience store/barbecue shop and we were treated to the best barbecue I've had in a while. He served up a smorgasboard of German sausage, beef ribs, chicken, pork and beef - along with red potato mashed potatoes, green beans and sauce, and then finished it up with fudge-pecan pie topped with - BlueBell Homemade Vanilla (that's BBHV to you). It was PHENOMENAL!

Fully stuffed and ready to shop, we headed to our next destination - Round Top/Warrenton for the antiques extravaganza. 5000 vendors just waiting for us. More pictures and stories from Round Top to come.

April 01, 2007

I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Texas. I had a wonderful afternoon with one of my favorite friends in the world in Austin on Thursday, then spent Friday with one of my other favorite friends, and finished up Saturday with friends and family! Now this is just a teaser entry with a photo to prove where I've been. I promise to add more pictures and tell tales of my Texas adventure tomorrow, but in the meantime I need to say this:

I am from Texas - I am from bluebonnets, and ice cream and Mexican food, and great music. I am from a small town with a big heart, and from loud people with big laughs and even bigger hospitality. I am from Texas. But -I am home where my family is. It's great to be home.

I am playing a little game of catch-up with the Gypsy Wagon. As it happens sometimes, life began moving a little too fast for me to document it on the blog. I want to make sure I capture a couple of moments before they're lost for good - and Conner's birthday is one of them. Two weeks ago, Conner turned 14 - a fun step for him, a poignant one for me. I pulled out some old pictures to show him what he looked like as a premie baby, and those pictures instantly took me back to his birth, the time in the NICU and the joyous and scary time when I was able to bring him home. I can't believe he's 14 and taller than me. He's a phenomenal kid and I am so glad he's ours!

A week after his birthday, he celebrated with an afternoon of paintball with his siblings and his friends. The weather cooperated by serving up a mild afternoon, and the boys had a blast. Don't let the menacing expressions on this crowd fool you, they were knee-deep in cake and ice cream as soon as the paintball extravaganza was over.